


Sick Day

by Withstarryeyes



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Bisexual Shiro (Voltron), Cuban Lance (Voltron), Dizziness, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, Established Allura/Shiro (Voltron), Fever, Fluff, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Gay Keith (Voltron), Hawaiian Hunk (Voltron), Japanese Shiro (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) is a Mess, Korean Keith (Voltron), M/M, Nausea, Sick Character, Sick Keith (Voltron), Sickfic, Space Dad Shiro (Voltron), Space Mom Allura (Voltron), cough, sick day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-14
Updated: 2018-09-14
Packaged: 2019-07-12 03:14:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15986438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Withstarryeyes/pseuds/Withstarryeyes
Summary: Keith is sick but the paladins all take care of him (despite his objections)SUPER FLUFFY





	Sick Day

Keith wakes up feeling sick, head heavy and full of cotton. His tongue is dry and scrapes across the back of his teeth, picking up the tangy metallic taste of mucous that’s traveled from his nose to pool in his stomach. His throat is scratchy and his stomach gives an unsatisfied flip when he tries to wiggle out from under Lance’s arms. He’s hot, too hot, and he knows it’s coming from him, if the inferno pounding at the sides of his skull, threatening to burn his brain, is anything to go by. 

Lance looks hot too, sweat sluggishly pumping down his face. Keith winces and pulls down the blanket, watching the flush slowly drain from Lance’s face. He’s heating up his boyfriend with their contact. It’s early, Keith can tell as he stretches his painful muscles and can’t hear the distant grunts of Shiro’s morning jog, or the bubbling of the Altean tea kettle, Allura waiting for her morning caffeine fix. It’s silent in the castle in a way it never is and Keith thinks he has at least a few hours before he has to face anyone. 

His head swims as he gets out of bed, dizziness assaulting him and he stumbles, just barely catching himself on the doorframe, as he walks. He thinks, distantly, that he should wake Lance up, he should tell him he’s not feeling well. But Lance is a mother-hen when Keith is sick, always fetching him towels and water, finding whatever carbonated space beverage he can and making Keith draw small sips into his mouth after he finishes throwing up. It’s exhausting watching him run around and makes Keith feel even more useless. 

He shivers, and as much as he wants to convince himself it’s from that thought, he knows it’s from the fever. He’s totally screwed if he keeps going, but he’s Keith and stubborn is nothing if not his middle name. He slides into the shower, stripping out of his sweat-soaked pajamas, feeling the cold air whip his back where sweat still pools around his spine. The spray does wonders for his temperature, just barely lukewarm but blessedly chill against his blistering skin. He sniffles under the spray and hacks into his elbow, spitting the phlegm that comes up into the drain. When his legs give out he leans against the side, feeling the tiles steady him across his back. It’s nice. 

Shiro’s up by the time he towels dry, nose dripping and coughs picking up in pace. He’s being loud about it, and Keith winces, knowing the inevitable is coming. He’s gonna get caught, red-nosed, flushed-cheeked. He hates being sick. He’s a fiddler, always wanting to be in the gym or cleaning his weapons or practicing his Korean, Japanese, and the Spanish he’s learning for Lance. He doesn’t like taking it easy or staying in his pajamas all day. He hates sitting in a puddle of his own filth, company a party of tissues, bloodshot eyes staring at the ceiling and pretending like his fever isn’t making him hallucinate. He wants to crawl out of skin at it. 

But he’s not quick enough with his aching limbs and skyrocketing fever to dodge Shiro’s path on the way to the gym, already dressed in his spacesuit. He locks eyes with Shiro, seeing them widen, and Shiro’s pace slow. 

“Keith, you’re up. You...look pale. Are you okay?” It sounds like he’s asking a question but Shiro doesn’t wait for an answer before placing his hand across Keith’s forehead and clicking his tongue. 

“I’m fine,” Keith tries, saying it in his dryest inflection. Shiro shakes his head and lets out a bitter laugh. 

“Nice try. Where’s Lance? I should probably get him. You’ve got a hell of a fever.”

“He’s sleeping, please Shiro, don’t wake him. He hasn’t been sleeping well,” Keith pleads, desperate. He can handle it if Shiro knows, but not Lance. Lance’ll freak out, suffocate him. But Shiro will just make him sit on the couch and eat some saltines. He’ll leave him alone as he goes to work out and check on him later. Besides, Keith’s not lying. Lance had been putting in more and more late night hours of training. He’d missed one of his shots at a sentry in the last mission, almost hitting Shiro in the process and getting them all caught. 

Keith had been woken up more than once to Lance’s shuddering breath, glazed over eyes roaming the room as he panted. He’d woken even more to an empty bed and the distinct ding of the training simulation booting up. 

Shiro’s eyes soften and he drags a hand through his white fringe, wincing. “He has been a little less _ Lance _ lately. You’ll be okay while I work out?” Keith nods a little too excited and Shiro starts to waffle but Keith plops down on the couch before he can completely change his mind. 

Shiro takes his temperature (100.8 o ) and places a glass of water on the table in front of him before he’s leaving. It’s quiet and Keith hunkers down, pulling out a book from between the cushions. He’d bought it the last time they’d all visited the space mall. Allura pops her head in a dozen pages later, hair still in braids, hands wrapped around her favorite mug. 

“Shiro told me you weren’t feeling well.” 

Keith coughs into his book, and turns, picking up a couple of tissues to wipe at his raw nose. He feels hot again, sweating all over and shivering. “I’m fine,” he says instead of “get Lance” or “yeah.” Allura frowns and sits by him, keeping her eye on him but not pushing it. They all know Keith allows more coddling from Shiro than anyone else and pushing matters makes Keith more likely to bolt than anything helpful. 

She drains the tea, keeping watch and Keith pretends he can’t feel her eyes on the back of his neck as he reads, wrapped up in the plot line. Hunk wanders by at some point and Keith only notices when he can smell bacon wafting out of the kitchen. His stomach cramps and suddenly his eyes can no longer follow the reading. He shuts his eyes as the smell gets stronger and he feels a sour pinch in his cheeks back by his molars. It feels like there’s a snake coiled up in his stomach, slithering and winding around the sides, compressing everything around his abdomen. 

He hears muffled talking and the smell slowly fades out of his nose. He blinks back up at Shiro placing a wet cloth on his forehead and holding the thermometer again. “Better?” 

The thermometer slips under his tongue when he opens his mouth to speak and Keith clams up, not ready to test the strength of his stomach. He still feels unnaturally flushed and like he swallowed a gallon of worms but he’s pretty sure he’s no longer on the edge of vomiting. The thermometer beeps once and Shiro hums as he reads it. Keith turns to bury his face in the couch cushions, anger flaring up. He hates this. 

“Keith, I need you to take some pills.” He whines into the pillows. Shiro laughs, patting his shoulder, “Come on, soldier.” 

They taste like grape extract, cloying and sticky, seeping into all the cracks of his mouth. He whimpers, petty, and feels his grumpiness climb as Shiro lets out another laugh, explaining that Keith’s fever had gone up. He fumbles blindly for his book and turns his face back out once he can feel the paper against his fingers. Shiro and Allura have migrated to the kitchen and he hears Pidge’s bare feet slap across the floors. Her hair is a wild mess, curling around her glasses and dipping into her eye line. She doesn’t even notice him on the couch as she trots past, laptop tucked under her chin. Keith suspects she’s going to find Coran. They’d been looking for a way to maximize the Castle’s portal power. 

He yawns and his eyelids scratch against his eyes. He’s tired and the book is only making him drowsier. He catches a blurry glimpse of the paladins joining him in the common room before he completely drops off.

Keith feels a light pressure against his back when he wakes up. It’s warm and he sighs, leaning back into the chest. It’s solid and he can feel the muscle under the soft fabric. It smells like Lance--saltwater and citrus, a light spice that’s in his cologne. He pulls himself up and buries his nose in Lance’s collarbone before dragging his eyes open. Lance is dragging a hand through his hair, rubbing a few strands at the nape of his neck through his fingers. 

“No, you’re not supposed to know I’m sick,” Keith whines but he’s given up at this point. Lance is warm against him and it’s driven out his chills and as much as he hates being coddled he loves Lance. He likes having him there when he doesn’t feel good. 

“Jig is up, sorry. Even Shiro can’t hide the fever on your face.” Keith huffs but pulls away to lean back against Lance’s side. 

They’re all playing cards. Pidge is perched on an armchair, Hunk in the center of it. Shiro’s back is pressed against another chair, Allura sitting above him and draping her legs over his shoulders. Coran is sitting on the ground by the coffee table. Lance is shuffling his cards, rubbing his thumbs over the Altean characters. 

“What’re you playing?

“Altean Gin. Allura and Coran are kicking our butts.” Keith smiles and watches the rest of the rounds. He still feels warm and his throat grates against every swallow of saliva but he’s content on the couch. Maybe everyone knowing he’s sick isn’t too bad. Especially when he gets dealt into the next round and he and Lance take down the rest of Voltron, winning almost every hand.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys!! Sorry I haven't been writing as much. College is just starting to ramp up so I hope you like this sickfic!! Please leave a kudos or a comment if you liked it. Reading comments is always my favorite part of writing and it really helps me get into the groove of pumping out new stories. 
> 
> Thanks,  
> C


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